Fall TV: Season Premiere of Saturday Night Live

It was not too long ago that I got the boxed set of the entire first season of Saturday Night Live. I haven't gone through all the episodes, but it made me realize something about the show that has always been the case; it is not always funny. There are times when jokes or skits just don't work, and this was from years and years ago. We always keep talking about how great SNL used to be and about those classic years with people like John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Ackroyd, and Chevy Chase, etc. When you look at these episodes as a whole, they're never really perfect. Except for that one with Richard Pryor; that is still one of the funniest hour and a half episodes in television history!

These days, we get into these periods of talking about how SNL is not funny anymore. Granted, the show has its ups and downs, and there was that period in the 80's when Lorne Michaels left the show and it became horrifyingly bad. That's why so many people like me still watch the show year after year. We continue to wait for that classic moment that will forever be burned into our consciousness as one of the funniest in SNL history. It has become the television version of Beckett's great play, "Waiting for Godot." We wait for the hilarious moments while wading through a number of obvious skits.

So we now have had another season premiere for the late night comedy series which is now in its...shoot! I lost track! What season is this anyway? We're past season 30 now, right? Well, we'll be reminded when the show celebrates its 35th anniversary...or has it done that already?

This episode was hosted by Lebron James with musical guest Kanye West. It opened with a bit of a thud with a message from the "future President of the United States," Hillary Rodham Clinton. Amy Poehler played Hillary, and Darrell Hammond was on hand to play her husband Bill, always trying to remain in the spotlight without hogging it (and not always succeeding). It was another of the show's opening skits dealing with politics that is way too obvious and lasts a lot longer than it should. I love Amy and Darrell, but they have done better than this.